Writings by Lynette Alice "Squeaky" Fromme
Archived Writings by Charles Manson Family Member Lynette Fromme
We are at Barker’s now, sneaked in at dusk. It feels good here all in one room, all in one circle. We’re dusty brown and smoothly tough, with cactus cut hands of lizard scale and sun. The feeling is animal, of wind and rough ground under our feet, and real. We can’t stay here at Barker’s. There’s too many of us. We are hunted. So tonight we dig.
Lynette Fromme, 1969
In the process of restoring. Pardon our small images
There’s some reason why I have to be here, and I can’t tell you what it is. It’s like the Mysteries of the Universe; something that I don’t know yet. And, to most logical people, that sounds crazy. And that’s my reputation!
Lynette Fromme, 2000
At Carswell.
FMC Carswell, Fort Worth, TX—Click for Image (300KB; opens in a new window)
This is Lyn’s current home.
FPC Alderson—Click for Image (868KB; opens in a new window)
Red and Blue lived here for several years. This is the prison from which Lyn escaped on Christmas Eve, 1987. She was recaptured two days later.
Red at Alderson—Click for Image (opens in a new window)
At Carswell.
From the Los Angeles Times, September 6, 1975:
By Robert B. Gunnison
SACRAMENTO (UPI)—Lynette Fromme watched President Ford on television the night before her assassination attempt and talked with two friends about Mr. Ford being “a dummy, an empty head”, her roomates said Friday.
Sandra Good, 31, a member of the Charles Manson “Family”, and Susan K. Murphy, 33, talked on the lawn outside their Victorian apartment after four hours of investigation by authorities.
Good, wearing a red hooded gown similar to the one worn by Fromme when she was arrested, said she was 
“shocked” by the incident and declared the “assassination of Ford won’t stop anything. We need whole new thoughts.”
In sometimes incoherent, rambling interviews, Good said the three women talked about pollution and other world problems after listeneing to Mr. Ford on television Thursday night and they remarked, “The people were like sheep looking up to this deadhead. A dead shell with dead thoughts.”
“I’d say she was attacking a lie,” Good said. “A lie that has people duped. Children have been taught to blindly accept…”
Asked if Fromme had acted on orders from Manson, the convicted mass murderer and cult leader, Good said: “No, orders didn’t come from him.”
“She apparently was just moved this morning,” Good said. “I don’t know what her state of mind is.”
“I guess she got tired of talking about it. That’s a lot of weight (the problems). She’s been carrying that weight.
“The big, big money people are allowing it to go on. Ford knows it and he’s not doing anything about it. We are beyond the point of anger. We have been trying to wake you people up for five years.”
Murphy, who wore a red scarf around her hair, said the color “signifies blood that is going to be sacrificed for the earth.”
“We are nuns,” she added.
Good said she did not know Fromme had a gun. She said she did not see her roomate Friday morning. “She got up before I did,” Good added.
Good said they corresponded daily with Manson, who is locked up at San Quentin, and were working on a court appeal. In the backseat of a car parked in front of the apartment and registered to Fromme were several books, including one entitled Questions and Answers About Criminal Law.
“Every law was broken to put Manson in prison,” Good said. “Nixon was freed. The world is falling apart.”
Murphy, who said she was “excited and scared” when she learned of the assassination attempt, said Fromme was “moved by the truth to do whatever she does.”
Asked if she was sorry Fromme didn’t shoot Mr. Ford, Good replied: “I’m only sorry if Lynette is sorry.”
From the Los Angeles Times, September 6, 1975:
SACRAMENTO (UPI)—Members of the Assembly Criminal Justice Committee recieved a rambling letter signed by cult leader Charles Manson 24 hours before one of his followers tried to kill President Ford.
The typed, three-page letter was dated Aug. 23 and carried a Tamil, Calif., return address. Tamil is the site of San Quentin Prison where Manson is serving a murder sentence.
The letter, addressed to “Criminal Justice Committee”, contained no direct threat against Mr. Ford.
Manson’s name contained no handwritten signature but was typed “C. Manson.”
“I’ve told you people over and over—I can release thoughts that will destroy you,” the letter said.
“The working people, I can understand,” it continued. “But you lawyers, drunk with the blood of dummies like me, are in trouble. You best be thinking on how to save your lives because the other justice is gonna catch up with you.
From the Los Angeles Times, September 7, 1975:
Roomate Says Fromme Acted on Own Volition
By Linda Deutsch
SACRAMENTO (AP)—Charles Manson did not order Lynette Fromme to try to kill President Ford, Miss Fromme’s roomate and fellow Manson disciple said Saturday.
“Squeaky acted totally of her own volition,” Sandra Good, 31, told reporters.
“Manson didn’t order her to do this. Squeaky is acting on the will of many people. I think she would have rather done it to someone killing the air; to some executive of big companies,” she said.
“The Presudent happened to be right out here available and lying and lying and lying. You can only take so much lying.”
“The people who are polluting the environment, who are killing the air and the water and the wildlife, the trees; if they don’t stop, they’re going to die,” Good said.
Fromme was grabbed by officers Friday as she pointed a loaded 45-caliber pistol at Mr. Ford, who was greeting a crowd near the state Capitol.
In a rambling conversation from her front porch, Good also warned of assassinations of officials of companies she said were polluting the earth.
“There’s a wave of assassins moving throughout the world,” she said.
Declining to identify who they were, she would say only, “Many people will be assassinated in the near future.”
She said they were officials of the Georgia-Pacific Co.; Dow Industries; DuPont; MCA, Inc., and other unnamed lumber and auto companies, but did not indicate how they may be marked for death.
Her comments on assassinations were similar to warnings she and other Manson followers have given for years.
Good called Fromme “a very giving person” and added: “I miss her. I miss her a lot. But if that’s what she wanted to do, I’m with her a lot. A whole lot of kids wanted it done. They wanted Nixon done.”
Good said she had not known of any plans to shoot Mr. Ford.
The reason for Fromme’s action, she indicated, was anger over air pollution and over the imprisonment of their leader, Manson.
“You better let Manson talk,” Good angrily told reporters. “Let him up or you’re going to die.”
“He should be able to have a new trial and the whole family should be together to put on a new defense.”
“Smile and smirk,” she told one male reporter, “but when the blood starts running out of your face you’ll pray for Jesus and you’ll realize you killed him.”
The “Manson Family” frequently referred to Manson as a Christ-like figure.
Manson, now serving a life sentence in San Quentin, was convicted in 1971 for the 1969 slayings of actress Sharon Tate and six others.
Good said FBI agents came in and “ransacked” her apartment Friday night and carried away carloads of material, including all of Manson’s prison letters to the women.
Officers said they questioned Good and another woman who lived at the apartment but released them without making a formal arrest.
Good said it was the first time she had been questioned by authorities since she came to Sacramento 2½ years ago.
She held onto one copy of a statement she and Fromme had sent to various acquaintances two weeks ago.
It was a statement from Manson threatening the future of the city of Los Angeles.
“The people who want to live will leave there and the world will stand back and see the fire and the madness grow until there is nothing left,” the statement said.
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From the Los Angeles Times, September 6, 1975:
By Gene Blake
Times Legal Affairs Writer
Lynette Alice (Squeaky) Fromme, thwarted Friday in an assassination attempt on President Ford, was a familiar figure at the 1970 Los Angeles murder trial for her idol—Charles Manson.
She was one of several Manson “family” members who kept a vigil outside the Hall of Justice, vowing to wait until their “father” was released. Each carried a sheathed knife in plain view.
And their foreheads were scratched with an “X”, following the lead of Manson, who had appeared similarly branded in court. He explained he was “X-ing myself out of the world”.
It became a ritual for new disciples joining the group—even to tasting the blood as it ran down their faces.
Although unofficial family leader while the “father” was in jail, Fromme had not been charged in the seven Tate-LaBianca murders for which Manson and three of his other girls were convicted.
But she managed to get in plenty of other trouble with the law—a point raised Friday by Atty. Gen. Evelle J. Younger. Nevertheless, her name never came to the attention of the Secret Service.
“You and I know she has been a problem for law enforcement for a long time,” Younger said.
Asked how Friday’s incident could happen when law enforcement officers knew of Fromme’s proclivities and anti-Establishment behavior, Younger replied: “I don’t know—but I’m going to find out.”
Fromme, now 26, was among six Manson family members arrested during the 1970 murder trial on charges of loitering, endangering public safety and failing to identify themselves in connection with their sidewalk vigil.
After warnings or at most a few days in jail, they were back at their old stand at N. Broadway and Temple St. and police finally let them alone.
Later, Fromme was one of the five Manson followers indicted on charges of conspiring to prevent another family member from testifying against Manson. She pleaded “no contest” to reduced charges and was sentenced to 90 days in jail.
The plot involved giving a witness, Barbara Hoyt, a hamburger laced with LSD in Honolulu.
Fromme also was arrested in connection with aiding the escape of a family member jailed for a robbery but that charge was dropped.
Still later, she was jailed for contempt of court for refusing to take the witness stand and answer questions without causing a disruption in another court proceeding.
She had been called as a defense witness in the penalty phase of Manson’s trial for the slayings of Gary Hinman and Donald (Shorty) Shea.
But her most serious trouble was yet to come. In 1972, Fromme was charged with murder, along with four companions, in the Stockton slaying of 19-year-old Lauren Chavelle Willett.
The victim’s body had been buried in a basement. The headless body of the victim’s husband, ex-Marine James Willett, 26, had been unearthed shortly before in Sonoma County.
But after spending nearly three months in jail as a suspect in the Stockton murder and a Granada Hills robbery, Fromme was cleared of both charges and freed.
While testifying in Manson’s behalf, Fromme said she was one of the first girls to join the family, only months after Manson was released from prison in 1967.
She had come from a well-to-do Santa Monica family. Her father was an aeronautical engineer. She attended El Camino College for a time but dropped out.
She testified that life with Manson was an existence without rules, a timeless game of make-believe and love.
“Charlie is in love with love and I’m in love with love and so we are in love with each other,” she explained.
Telling of life with the Manson family on the Spahn movie ranch in Chatsworth and in Death Valley, Fromme said: “When you don’t have any philosophy you don’t have any rules. You might call that an Alice in Wonderland world but it makes sense. You get what you put out.”
Red-haired and freckled, Fromme was plain looking with a tiny voice from which the “Squeaky” nickname derived. She indicated this played a part in her unhappy life at home.
But her new life began one day when she was sitting in the street crying and Manson offered to take her with him, she recalled.
“A man walked up and said, ‘Your father kicked you out today,’ and that was Charlie,” she said. “No one had ever treated me like that before, not pushed me around, so I just picked up all my things and went.”
But why, of all people, someone like Manson?
“A dog goes to somebody who loves it and takes care of it,” she explained.
Normal version—No summaries.
Manson Girl Tries to Shoot President:
The LA Times, September 5, 1975
Front page story from the evening paper hours after the incident.
‘Squeaky’ Picked a Spot—and Then Just Waited:
The LA Times, September 6, 1975
The George Skelton account discussed in Bravin’s Squeaky: The Life and Times of Lynette Alice Fromme.
Fromme Vilified Ford, Friends Say:
The LA Times, September 6, 1975
Sandra Good and Susan Murphy talk to reporters on the lawn at 1725 P Street; includes photo.
“Squeaky” Has History of Trouble with Law:
The LA Times, September 6, 1975
Some background on the “Family”; comments on the Willetts. A few quotes from Lyn.
Manson “Family”—It’s Scattered and in Prison:
The LA Times, September 6, 1975
Background on the Los Angeles murders; some where-are-they-now stuff.
Panel Receives Manson Letter:
The LA Times, September 6, 1975
Lawmakers received an unrelated letter from Manson two weeks before the Ford incident.
‘Your life on the line’—Reporter recounts Fromme’s threat:
The Chicago Tribune, September 6, 1975
Fromme had contacted journalist with a message from Manson.
No Manson Edict, Disciple Says:
The LA Times, September 7, 1975
Sandy Good says Fromme acted on her own.
Fromme First Woman to Try to Kill a President:
The Washington Post, September 7, 1975
Seven paragraphs restating the headline.
Had No Time to React in Gun Incident, Ford Says:
The LA Times, September 8, 1975
Jerry and Betty talk to reporters; includes photo.
FBI Gets No Specific Answers From Manson:
The LA Times, September 8, 1975
FBI questioning of Manson; Fromme update.
‘Treat You Like a Child’:
The New York Times, September 8, 1975
Lynette Fromme expresses dissatisfaction with not having been taken seriously in the past.
Fromme’s “Sugar Daddy”:
The LA Times, September 9, 1975
Harold Boro background; history of the gun. Includes photo.
Fromme Called, Talked of Violence, L.A. Judge Says:
The LA Times, September 10, 1975
Judge Choate threats; Boro described by various sources; comments by prison officials on correspondence between Manson and Fromme.
Grand Jury Indicts Fromme:
The LA Times, September 11, 1975
Grand jury indicts for attempt to assassinate.
The Girl Who Almost Killed Ford:
Time, September 15, 1975
Time magazine cover story on the incident; includes photo.
Ford’s Brush With Death:
Newsweek, September 15, 1975
Newsweek magazine cover story on the incident.
Squeaky Gets Offer to Publish Her Book:
The Chicago Tribune, September 20, 1975
Offered $1,000 for manuscript, but does not accept; some bail updates.
Leaves From a Family Album:
Newsweek, September 22, 1975
Updates on Kasabian, Kitty, and Cappy.
The Significance of Squeaky Fromme:
The Wall Street Journal, September 24, 1975
Claire Booth Luce on Lynette Fromme.
Letters to the Editor:
Time, October 6, 1975
In reaction to cover story; includes letter from Roman Polanski.
Manson Film Barred Due to Miss Fromme’s Trial:
The New York Times, October 17, 1975
Private screening held by the Court.
My Trip With Squeaky: Just One of Charlie’s Girls by Paul Krassner; from Rolling Stone, October 23, 1975
Extensive Krassner piece recounting his dealings with Fromme and other “Manson women”. Don’t miss the Bugliosi quote toward the end.
Squeaky’s ‘I Hate Ford’ Remark Told at Her Trial:
The Chicago Tribune, November 12, 1975
Includes photo of Manson’s Scientology auditor.
‘Without Manson, I’m Dead,’ Squeaky Cries:
The Chicago Tribune, November 12, 1975
Some trial coverage, with notes on Boro testimony.
Fromme Judge Told Weird Plot:
The Chicago Tribune, November 13, 1975
Possible plan to have an industrialist assassinated.
TRIALS: Squeaky and Jerry:
Newsweek, November 24, 1975
Account of trial proceedings.
TRIALS: Judgment on Squeaky:
Newsweek, December 8, 1975
Conviction story.
Fromme Friends Seek to be Freed:
The New York Times, December 24, 1975
Sandy and Heather seek to be freed without bail and allowed to act as their own attorneys.
Good Declares Prison Wish:
The Dallas Morning News, March 3, 1976
Refuses to present a defense at trial; Fromme, wearing a black robe, refuses to testify.
Lynette Fromme Carried Screaming From Court:
The Wall Street Journal, March 15, 1976
Sandy and Heather’s conspiracy trial.
2 Manson Followers Convicted of Plot:
The New York Times, March 17, 1976
Sandy and Heather convicted; Sandy burns $100 bill in front of jury. Includes photo.
Member of Manson Family Escapes From Coast Prison:
The New York Times, August 16, 1976
Heather escapes from Terminal Island.
Squeaky and Sara Jane:
Newsweek, November 8, 1976
Lynette Fromme and Sara Jane Moore adjust to prison life.
Wire Report: The Associated Press, November 17, 1978
James T. Craig and Edward Barabas murders; Pricilla Cooper; Fromme’s comments on both.
One Man’s Family:
Newsweek, January 23, 1978
Updates on Kasabian, Van Houten, Krenwinkel, Atkins, Watson, Fromme, and Good.
Wire Report: The Associated Press, March 13, 1979
Fromme’s assault on Julienne Busic.
Fromme Faces New Charges:
The Washington Post, March 14, 1979
Shorter article on the Busic incident.
Manson Family Member to be Freed Over Her Protests:
LA Times, March 1, 1985
Sandra Good describes her impending release as “really stupid”.
Manson Family Women Find New Kin in Prison:
The Record (New Jersey), March 18, 1985
Good prefers life in prison; ATWA comments.
Sandra Good Won’t Quit Jail for N.J. Facility:
The Philadelphia Daily News, March 29, 1985
Rejects mandatory release date.
Manson Follower Rejects Parole Terms:
The Lexington Herald-Leader, March 30, 1985
Refuses to leave due to bar on communicating with Manson.
“Squeaky” Still Says She Didn’t Intend to Kill Ford:
The Sacramento Bee, September 5, 1985
Comments from Fromme, Virga, and MacBride.
“Squeaky” Ignores Parole Hearing:
The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 5, 1985
Will have the option every two months.
Two Who Stalked Ford: 10 Years After:
Newsweek, September 9, 1985
Fromme and Moore updates.
Manson Follower Good Paroled:
The Sacramento Bee, December 3, 1985
Agrees not to contact Manson for five years.
Manson Follower Moves in, and City Gets the Jitters:
The Detroit Free Press, December 12, 1985
Sandra Good arrives in Burlington, Vermont.
Vt. Town Fears Move there by Manson Cultist:
The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 23, 1986
Blue moves to St George, Vermont.
Judges, DAs Fear Revenge From Convicts:
Daily News of Los Angeles, November 23, 1986
Lynette Fromme describes Judge MacBride’s living room to him.
Ford Recalling Assassination Try is Hot Video:
The Sacramento Bee, April 8, 1987
Previously sealed tape of Ford’s testimony released.
Presidential Assailant Fromme Apparently Escapes From Prison:
The Lexington Herald-Leader, December 24, 1987
Fromme turns up missing.
Transcript: Lynette Fromme Escapes from Prison: ABC World News Tonight, December 24, 1987
Fromme, Warden Ron Buckhart, and Vincent Bugliosi.
Did She Act on Impulse or Purpose?:
The Sacramento Bee, December 25, 1987
Insightful article musing on the motivation behind Lyn’s escape.
Nationwide Alert is Issued:
The Lexington Herald-Leader, December 25, 1987
The hunt for Fromme.
Policia Busca a Mujer Que Atento Contra Gerald Ford:
El Nuevo Herald (Miami), December 25, 1987
Report on the escape and search, in Spanish.
Vuelta a Capturar Atacante de Ford:
El Nuevo Herald (Miami), December 26, 1987
Longer article with some biographical information, in Spanish.
Fromme Captured Outside Prison:
The Lexington Herald-Leader, December 26, 1987
Recapture story. Steven Kay quoted.
FROMME RECAPTURED: The Russian Information Agency ITAR-TASS, December 26, 1987
Soviet press release on the recapture, in English (oddly, entirely in capitals).
Prison Officials Try to Find Out Reason for Fromme’s Escape:
The Lexington Herald-Leader, December 27, 1987
Staff members muse on the situation.
Manson Rumor Is Checked In Fromme’s Prison Escape:
The New York Times, December 27, 1987
No conclusions are reached.
For Fromme, 20 Years Revering Manson:
The Record (New Jersey), December 27, 1987
Biographical sketch with Grogan update and Fromme quotes.
Feds Thought Fromme Wouldn’t Escape:
The Philadelphia Daily News, December 28, 1987
Admit that she was not institutionalized.
Fromme to Face Grand Jury Probe:
The Boston Globe, December 29, 1987
Formal investigation of escape begins.
Squeaky’s Christmas Hike:
Time, January 4, 1988
Brief report on the escape.
“Squeaky” Found Guilty of December Jail Break:
The Philadelphia Daily News, March 15, 1988
Conviction story. Fromme’s testimony quoted.
“Squeaky” Fromme Transferred to Lexington:
The Lexington Herald-Leader, June 5, 1988
Higher security demanded.
“Squeaky” Fromme, 4 Others Moved With Closing of FCI High-Security Unit:
The Lexington Herald-Leader, August 25, 1988
Security level of Lexington facility changes.
Inside Information:
The Orlando Sentinel, August 25, 1988
Fromme “less than enchanted” with her new home.
Fromme Says We’re All Mass Murderers:
The Orlando Sentinel, February 27, 1989
Interview regarding ecology, Ford, and Marianna.
Fromme Says She Didn’t Really Want to Kill Ford:
The St. Petersburg Times, February 28, 1989
More comments on the interview cited above.
Mansonite Goes Public to Aid Lake:
The Philadelphia Daily News, November 24, 1989
Sandra Good moves, drops alias to draw attention to the plight of Lake Champlain.
A Ghost of Manson Reappears In the East:
The New York Times, December 5, 1989
Sandy in Vermont.
Hendrickson Alleges Geraldo Rivera Violated Injunction:
The Entertainment Litigation Reporter, July 22, 1991
Manson director Robert Hendrickson takes Geraldo to court over footage of Lynette Fromme.
Transcript: Red and Blue interview, circa 1993.
Mostly about Manson.
Twenty-Five Years Later, She’s Still Loyal to Him:
The Fresno Bee, August 7, 1994
Lengthy Sandra Good update.
Transcript: Unused material from Dianne Sawyer’s 1994 Turning Point interview with Lyn.
Comments on Manson, the murders, the media, and Manson’s conviction.
Manson’s Loyal Disciple:
The Tampa Tribune, December 5, 1997
Extensive review of Jess Bravin’s Squeaky: the Life and Times of Lynette Alice Fromme, with Fromme’s comments on the book.
Federal Judge Thomas J. MacBride Dies:
The Sacramento Bee, January 7, 2000
Obituary for the judge who presided over Lyn’s trial, with photo.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer, September 5, 1985:
Ann Kolson, Inquirer Staff Writer
(The Associated Press, Reuters and United Press International
contributed to this report.)
Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, serving a life sentence for attempting to assassinate then-President Gerald Ford in 1975, chose not to appear before a parole commission yesterday. The follower of Charles Manson is incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution for Women in Charleston, W. Va., where a prison spokesman describes her as “pleasant and cooperative.” Under federal statutes, Fromme is allowed to apply for parole after serving 10 years of her term. Although she turned down this chance, Fromme will have the option of appearing before the commission every two months. “She has not given us any reason for not having this hearing,” spokesman David Helman said. “I don’t know what her thinking is, but it’s not uncommon. Some inmates don’t think they have much of a likelihood of gaining parole anyway.”
Mr. Connolly — (your title)
Mr. Robt. Russell
[address deleted]
[address deleted]
wrote & I got it the same day yours came. He wanted to know my birthday also. Does that mean anything to you?
It meant to me that I had to write another letter that couldn’t get too real or it would be misunderstood.
I can’t help you with your school report. Earth cries and you want my birthdate. If the report had something to do with survival when the money reality falls, you wouldn’t know what to write because the money mom holds the leash & the reigns—mom earth is under her trampling discontent—Look at the Big Bitch selling pieces of Air, Land, Water & her children’s asses
And you people look down at me.
When you are gasping for air we’ll see who is hysterical.
I’m not fighting for a cause. I’m fighting for my life, trapped by my own knowing. (The soul is it’s own reward). But you sit back and enjoy your T.V. life a little longer.
Don’t let your personality fool you into being offended. Personalities & words are just clothes. I really don’t play that birthday game.
Red
L. Fromme
A note on this letter. This letter, originally handwritten, covered two pages, the second of which appeared in Nikolas Schreck’s excellent book, The Manson File, published by Amok in 1989. To see the second page as it was reproduced by Schreck, 
